Reading Diary A: Bengali Folktales

My favorite stories from the Bengali Folktales unit by Lal Behari Day are:

A Ghostly Wife. A family of 3 and a ghost are the characters of this story. This is my favorite because I can relate to this story with my grandmother's story. A ghost had gotten inside her and was controlling her. I might just write my grandmother's story using this story so that the similarities can be seen. In Bangladesh or India, these ghost stories actually occur often. Another reason this was my favorite is because it is about a ghost. I love ghost stories or horror movies.

Illustration by Warwick Goble.

Source: A Ghostly Wife

The Ghost who was Afraid of being Bagged. Once again, ghost story = favorite. The characters are a husband and a wife and two ghosts. The ghost thought about teaching the man a lesson, but instead received a lesson himself. The man cunningly used the ghost to do things for him. And through the ghost, he became rich. This was certainly an enjoyable story. 

The Bald Wife. A man and his two wives are the main characters of this story. Some plants along with a sage are the others. I read a similar story before, that's why this caught my attention and is one of my favorite. The elder wife is mistreated by the younger because of her looks. She is made to leave. On her way, she helps the plants and a bull, who gave their blessing to her. After visiting the sage, she becomes very beautiful. The younger wife gets greedy and tries it herself, but becomes uglier. I got two lesson from this story: greed is bad and treat others as you would treat yourself.